Arsenal forward: No one believes in us but Champions League is possible

Germany international Lukas Podolski says Arsenal can get past his old club Bayern Munich in the Champions League this month and prove their doubters wrong.

The former Bayern Munich forward believes the Gunners can beat the Bavarians at the Allianz Arena and progress through the second leg of their last sixteen tie as the victors in the Champions League, despite a two-goal deficit suffered at the Emirates last month.

The European champions are clear favourites to progress through the tie to the quarterfinals of the competition but Podolski insists the Gunners can use their underdog status to surprise their doubters.

"It is normal that no one believes in us, when we lost 2-0 at home,” he explained.

"We, the players, we're going after the qualification. We have to play as good as we did in the first 15 minutes of the first game.

"The main thing is to score a goal in the first half. Then everything will be possible," he added.

The North Londoners did just that 12 months ago when they beat the Bundesliga champions 2-0 at the Allianz Arena. The Gunners travelled to Munich having suffered a 3-1 defeat at the Emirates in the first leg and the Premier League giants nearly made it through in the dying minutes.

Olivier Giroud scored the Gunners opener after just 3 minutes silencing the Allianz’ home support but despite a strong and committed display from the visitors Laurent Koscielny’s second came just a little too late on 86 minutes and the Germans saw out the tie for the remainder of the game.

This time, however, Arsenal need to score two away goals (rather than three) to level the tie, which is exactly what they achieved last time. Two goals and a clean sheet again would certainly give the doubters as well as the European champions something to think about and, as Podolski believes, if they play as well as they did in the opening 15 minutes of the first leg for 90 minutes, qualification is not such a fantasy for Arsene Wenger’s side.

Jenny Leigh

Jennifer is a freelance writer and filmmaker from London with a great passion for football - the game, the business, and the culture. Jennifer hopes to provide readership with a high standard of news, analysis, and opinion over a range of football events, stories, and issues.